FROM PRESS RELEASE
AUSTIN, Texas — The No. 13 Texas Longhorns dropped a pitching duel to the No. 19 Nebraska Cornhuskers in Big 12 Conference baseball action Saturday evening at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
Austin Wood (2-2) was saddled with the loss despite yielding just two runs on six hits and two walks while striking out one over 6.1 innings. Cole Green pitched 2.2 scoreless innings, allowing just one hit while striking out three.
Nebraska’s Thad Weber (5-1) held the Longhorns to two hits and two walks while striking out five in the complete-game shutout.
The Cornhuskers did all their damage in the sixth inning. With two outs, Jake Mort hit a double to leftfield with his ball eluding a diving Michael Torres in leftfield. Jake Opitz drew a walk to put runners at first and second. Mitch Abeita singled up the middle, plating Mort to break the scoring seal. Craig Corriston closed out the rally with a double to leftfield, driving in Opitz.
Torres hit a leadoff single in the first inning to extend his hit streak to 12 games.
Abeita went 2-for-4 with an RBI for Nebraska
The Longhorns look to avoid the three-game sweep on Sunday when they host the Cornhuskers in a 1 p.m. contest at UFCU Disch-Falk Field.
POSTGAME QUOTES
HEAD COACH AUGIE GARRIDO
On Nebraska pitcher Thad Weber: His performance tonight was brilliant. First of all, pitching is about command. He has good velocity. I don’t know his miles per hour or what his fast ball is, but it is certainly crisp and firm. He had an overhand curve ball and he threw a change up. He located all of those pitches and threw all of those when he was behind in the count and that was just brilliant.
On if there is anything other than losing to be disappointed about when a guy is pitching that well: I think you can always find things to be disappointed in, but what turns a pitcher around like that is when you can sit on one pitch. You almost can’t swing at anything except that one pitch you’re looking for which is normally the fast ball. Be that as it may, I think the real story from our point of view is that I think tonight was the best team effort and it showed up in the pitching and in the defense, an area that we have been very lack luster and tonight we played at a very high level.
LHP AUSTIN WOOD
On tonight’s game: I feel good, we lost, but I feel like we played a really good game. We played hard and we played nine full innings, something that we haven’t done in a while. From a personal standpoint I was pleased how I came out and responded after the past couple of weeks that I’ve had. It was tough losing the game tonight, but I think it’s a positive for our team playing a hard nine innings and I couldn’t be happier for our team right now.
RF KYLE RUSSELL
On Nebraska pitcher Thad Weber: He is really good. It’s rare that you run into a pitcher that has three effective pitches. He had pin-point accuracy, his fast ball was on the money and his change up and his curveball were great. You never knew what was coming and he kept us on our toes all day. All you can do is tip your hat to that pitcher because he had a fantastic day.
To see the rest of my pics visit my Album
